NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



APRIL 19, 1*!* 3 



ANn HORTICULTURAL BFGISTER. 



Boston, Wednesday, April 19, 1843. 



THE POTATO. 



The extent to which this crop is grown throughoul 

 New England, marks it as one of ihe most important, 

 and as one to which much attention should be given. 

 Sometimes it yields plentifully, and is profiiable ; but 

 often, especially in the vicinity of Boston, and on those 

 lands that have long been under cultivation, it does 

 but poorly. Is this the result of causes beyond our pow- 

 er to remedy .' Or is it owing to want of skill in the 

 cultivation ? The climale here, we know, is not as 

 good as it is farther north and east, for producing good 

 potatoes. But the trouble is not all in the climate ; for 

 one man hero will hnve quite good potatoes on one part 

 of the farm, and poor ones upon another part. This 

 may be owing to difference of manures, time of plant- 

 ing, mode of treating, or the like : so far as such are the 

 causes of difference, they are under our control. Gene- 

 rally, in this vicinity, we get our best crops and our best 

 potatoes, from lands thnt have not been cultivated be- 

 fore-such lands as we change from natural pastures to 

 tillage— or, cur reclaimed meadow or swamp lands. 

 The escellence here is owing to the fact that the lands 

 are new. But such lands can only rarely be had on the 

 farm. We want potatoes, and we must cultivate them, 

 for the most part, upon grounds that have long been in 

 tillage. And what are our best processes ? 



We meant to have answered this question elaborately, 

 but we are tied by slight sickness to the house, and have 

 not our reference books within reach. Wc can only 

 give general directions. 



The manure, especially barn manure, should never be 

 put in the hill, in any considerable quantity ; but it 

 Bhould be spread and harrowed or plowed in. Itis com- 

 mon, very common, to put all the manure in the hill ; 

 but this is unwise, excepting in a few wet spots of heavy 

 soil. A little plaster, lime, ashes, or other concentrated 

 manure, may be put in the hill, perhaps— but generally 

 these would be as well spread broadcast. Such we give 

 as the general inference from our reading upon the sub- 

 ject. Our practice has been different, and our success 

 very small. Potatoes have been our poorest crop. 



Stale of the Ground.— The soil should in some way 

 be made «?/.«, if this be possible. We do not suppose 

 that it needs to be much pulverized, but it must be 

 quite pervious to the air. Straw or other coarse ma- 

 nure, is serviceable in effecting this end. 



Place jor the Seed.— The natural surface of the field 

 i, as low as the seed should ever be put. No furrow 

 should be opened to receive the seed; but it should lie 

 at the surface or higher. Having loose earth under it, 

 the crop will be better. This we learn, not from read- 

 ing alone, for the experience of last year did all ihatone 

 year's experience could do, to prove that this is the best 

 way. Our own course this year will be to back-furrow 

 into ridges, and pkint on the ridge. 



Position of the Seed.- Suppose you had a long potato 

 sent you from abroad, and that you had never seen one 

 before, You wish to plant it— how will you place it? 

 Upon examining it, you will see at once that the most 

 of the eyes are at the small end, and that the eyes gene- 

 rally are set to shoot up in the direction of the small 

 end. You will at once say that the potato should bo 

 set on end— i/ic large end diwn—^na that the small end 

 should be just even, or nearly even, with the surface <.f 

 the groui.d. This is the true way to plant. Try it, will 

 a few at least. 



Seed Whole.— In our paper of Dec. 7, we gave the re- 

 suits of various e.xpenm.-nts which we made last season. 

 Those experirnenls proved ihat it is more profiiable to 

 plant the seed whole, than to cut. The experiments 

 also proved that if you cut, it is proHlable to roll the 

 seed in plaster. We found, too, that small seed though 

 whole, is less profitable than large. 



Adaptation of kind to the Soil— Our readers may re 

 member the opinion expressed last year by Hon. Mr 

 Plunkett, of Piltsfield, that the round and oblong round 

 potatoes are much betler suited lo dry lands than the 

 kidney-shaped and flat. We believe there is good 

 ground for this opinion— for the long-red, which is an 

 oblong round, continues to preserve its productiveness 

 and its good qualities, on some dry farms, where the 

 Chenangoes and other flat potatoes deteriorate rapidly ; 

 while on some moist, and especially clayey farms, the 

 Chenangoes do better than the long-red. 



Comparative Producliveness.—hail season, we found 

 the long Blue?, (Florida, Dean, Veto, &c. &c.,are 

 mimes given to ihe.n)— the most productive. The Me- 

 rino was next— and the Long Red came last, among the 

 kinds that we tried together. These potatoes are all 

 quite similar in form, and our trial was fair. If wc re- 

 member correctly, the Long Blues were about 25 per 

 ;ent. and the Merinos about 20 per cent, mere produc- 

 tive than the Long Red. We had also the Burr, a very 

 large, round potato, which should yield well on a dry 

 soil— but we put it in a very wet place. A hill here 

 and there, thai escaped submersion in June, yielded 

 well. This miaht be, under favorable circumstances, as 

 productive as any variety we have tried. 



Every farmer needs and must raise potatoes. But 

 they are not generally a profitable crop to grow for sale 

 in the vicinity of our city It costs much to seed an 

 acre- and if you sell, they leave you nothing, or almost 

 nothing, at home, with which to restore to the soil that 

 which the crop has drawn from it. We believe— though 

 in this we differ from the m.ijority- we believe that po- 

 toes exhaust the soil more than Indian corn does. 



Time of Planting.— The varieties that yield largely 

 and keep growinguntil autumn, should be planted as soon 

 as the ground is in a good stale to work. The first of 

 May is usually ihe best time. The less productive va- 

 rieties, and those that mature early, generally do better 

 if not planted until the 5lh or 10th of June. 



We shall be happy to get opinions and suggestions in 

 regard to ihe growing of potatoes, from any of our read- 

 ers. 



Exhaustion of the 5oii.— Supposing the vines or tops 

 of potatoes to weigh, when in their greenest state, 2 1 2 

 lbs. per hill, and that an acre has 4000 hills ; the weight 

 upon the acre green is 10,000 lbs. or 5 tons. Also, 160 

 bushels of roots or tubers would weigh 10,000. These, 

 according to C. W. Johnston, would contain of ^ 



Total. 

 122 



130 

 49 



do so much better in Maine, where limestone is a com- 

 mon rock, than they do here.' 



Our own experiments last year, showed lhat salt, in 

 any form, was unfavorable to the potalo— especially to 

 its (/i(a(i(y— though it generally made green and luxu- 

 riant tops. Urine — salt ley— salt — salt and lime com- 

 bined— each of them gave poor potatoes. Some of our 

 citizens ot discriminating taste, refuse to purchase east- 

 ern potatoes from towns where sea manure is used. 

 Ho" manure, vault manure, and in general the concen- 

 trated manures, have a deleterious aclion upon the qual- 

 ity of the potato. 



Potash, 

 Lime, 



Silica, 

 Phosphoric acid. 

 Sulphuric |acid. 

 Soda, 



Tops. 



82 



Roots. 



40 



3 



1 



4 



23 



133 

 50 

 24 

 9 



24 



302 



These, with the other matters contained in the soil, 

 amount to 301 lbs. ; and the table shows that this crop, 

 especially in its tops, makes very heavy drafls upon 

 the limo and potash of the soil. In all the tables which 

 Johnston has given, we believe no other growth requires 

 lime 10 an equal, or any thing like an equal extent, with 

 potato tops. Is there in this any reason why potatoes 



THE SILK BUSINESS. 



We copy, this week, parts of the proceedings of the 

 Silk Convention, held at Northampton, last autumn ; 

 and we repeat a willingness, once before expressed, to 

 open our columns to a discussion of topics pertaining to 

 the production of silk. We do this mainly because of 

 its important bearing upon the agriculture of the coun- 

 try. Of all the ordinnry productions of our soil, wc 

 now have an abundance, and more than enough to sup- 

 ply the home market. Our flour, beef, pork, cotton, 

 &c. donot now give us much profit when sent to for- 

 eign markets— nor is there reason to suppose that wa 

 1 shall find a ready sale for what our country is likely to 

 produce. Farming will not bring much profit to those 

 I devoted to it, unless some great change can be intro- 

 duced. No other change promises so well as that of 

 orowing our own silk. Now could we produce here a 

 conside''rabl« part of the $20,000,000 worth of silk that 

 is brought from other countries, the effect would be to 

 furnish more labor, and to make more mouths to feed on 

 (,ur own soil. This would raise the price of farm pro- 

 duciions somewhat; then the lands appropriated to the 

 mulberry, would in part at least, be taken from ihe fields 

 now appropriated lo grain, vegetables, &c. Our ordina- 

 ry productions, for a time, would be lessened, and this 

 would raise the price of whatever is grown for sale. 

 Every farmer is interesled in the success of the silk 

 business. Let this become extensive enough to supply 

 the wants of the country, and our lands will be more 

 valuable, and our agricultural products of all kinds will 

 find a more ready and a better market. 



But whether it is well for each farmer lo plant ou 

 mulberry trees, and be getting under way for the prose 

 culion of the business, is not so clear. Only a few cat 

 at present attend advantageously to the manufacture 

 silk. 



The great want— we have said the same before— is ( 

 known and established market for the cocoons. I 

 these can be sold at remunerating prices, the farme 

 will soon produce them. It is said there are some pet 

 sons in the State now, who proclaim a willingness V 

 buy all the cocoons that may bo brought to them. 1 

 there be such, we should be glad to know who they ar 

 —what they will give, and for how many years the 

 will buy, «tc. If any are ready to make contracts, vi 

 should be happy to publish their terms. 



When last year we avowed a willingness to open oi 

 columns to articles upon this subject, we hoped for orig 

 nal communications from those who are acquainte 

 with the subject; but none such have came. 



If our aid is wanted in this cause, we hope its frieni 

 will furnish us with something to say ; unless they d 

 we shall be nearly silent— for we liave no practie 

 knowledge upon the subject. 



He is happy whose circumstances suit his tempe 

 but he is more fortunate who can suit his temper to ar 

 circumstances. — Hume. 



